Basic Wood Veneering Techniques Made Easy!

Start veneering today! Veneering is a fantastic way to spice up your woodworking. It is much easier than you think and you don't need a lot of fancy tools either!

Materials needed:

• Veneer
• Substrate (MDF, Plywood, or Solid Wood)
• Glue I usually use regular white glue, but there are many other options.(white glue, yellow glue, cold press veneer glue or urea glue)

Tools Required:

• Utility knife
• Cutting mat (optional)
• Sticky back sandpaper
• Scraps of wood
• Glue roller or paint brush
• Straight edge
• Veneer Press. You can use wooden cauls and clamps or a vacuum press. Cauls and clamps will work great for small projects.

When you get veneer it is in the same sequence as it was when they sliced it off the log. It is important to keep track of this. I like to number the sheets of veneer in multiple spots so that I can still identify the veneer sequence after I start cutting it up.

When working with veneer you will need to cut it and join the edges very much the same way you would with solid wood. I usually use a straight edge and a regular fixed blade utility knife to cut my veneer. One trick is to put sticky back sandpaper on the back side of the straight edge. This helps to hold the veneer in place when you are cutting it. I cut on the waste side of the veneer and hold the straight edge on the side that I want to keep. That helps to protect the edge of the keeper piece from chipping as it is being cut.

Another trick is to joint the edges of the veneer after cutting. Again, this is similar to the way you would prepare solid wood before gluing it together.

I have a square piece of aluminum tubing with some sticky back sandpaper on one side (a square stick of wood will work just fine for this). I place the veneer between two scraps of wood. One to hold it up off of the bench and the other to hold it in place. I hang the edge of the veneer over the edge of the scrap wood just by just 1/4" or so.

Then I rub the sandpaper along the edge of the veneer. This squares the edge of the veneer and removes any roughness from when I cut it.

• Next, use blue painter's tape on the back side of the veneer to temporarily hold the sheets together. Press a piece of painter's tape on one side of the joint. Then pull firmly on the tape while holding the two pieces of veneer together, and press the other side of the tape on to the other side of the joint.

(Apply just enough tape to hold veneer together along all of the seams.)

• Then flip the veneer over and add veneer tape on to the show side. Veneer tape is thin paper tape with moisture sensitive adhesive on one side and it is very easy to work with. Just tear off a piece of tape, moisten it, and press it along the seam.
• Remove the blue tape after you have veneer tape along all of the seams on the show side.

There are many different types of glue for veneer. I usually use regular white glue. Another good choice is cold press veneer glue. The main difference between these is that the cold press glue is thicker so it is less likely to bleed through if you use a vacuum bag.

The three most common substrates for veneer are: MDF, Plywood, and Solid Wood. I prefer MDF because it is perfectly flat and very resistant to wood movement, but plywood and solid wood are also very popular choices.

• Apply a thin, but ample layer of glue on to the substrate. Too much glue may leave lumps under the veneer.
• Quickly lay the veneer on to the glued panel.
• Use small pieces of painter's tape around the edges to hold it in place until you put it into the press.

Note: We normally veneer both sides of a panel to minimize warping. In this example I placed mahogany veneer on one side and some book matched walnut veneer on the opposite side.

(I will post another Instructable next week on how to do a 4-Way Book Match)

Most people use a vacuum bag to press their veneer, but you can get started in veneering without one. You can easily press veneer on to small panels using cauls and regular woodworking clamps. I used a vacuum bag for this demonstration.

• Place the panel into the bag
• Cover the panel with a piece of terry cloth or some kind of mesh material to ensure that the air is removed evenly across the entire panel. (I use cloth window screen material)
• Seal the bag, attach the pump and let it run for at least 25 minutes (with white glue)

You can remove the veneer tape anytime after it comes out of the press.

I lightly moisten the veneer tape with a damp rag to soften the glue. With this method I can remove most of the tape with my fingers. I gently remove what's left with a card scraper and/or a random orbit sander.

I am always eager to see how the panel looks with that first coat of finish!

I have had great success with these techniques and I know that there are other methods of working with veneer. Please leave a comment and let me know how you liked my Basic Veneering Instructable!

Thanks for reading my Instructable!

Chalrie

I was able to include much more detail about this on my woodworking blog: http://www.jack-bench.com/basic-wood-veneering-tec...

I also made a video to make it easier to follow: